Keep on Learning

I do love to learn new things. I know that sometimes I’m resistant, but that’s usually only when someone else, or life, imposes that learning on me. When it’s my idea, I’m all over it.

When I first learned to weave, taking a total of about 12 hours of classes from a man in his 80s who specialized in rag rugs, I knew that I wanted to weave with rayon chenille. He knew nothing about it. My naive self thought it would be just like weaving with any other fiber. Little did I know that rayon chenille presents its own unique challenges and gratifications.

Since then I’ve woven a LOT of rayon chenille scarves & shawls. But still, when I took a class with Su Butler, the goddess of rayon chenille, even though the class was on an entirely different topic, I had to pick her brain. That’s when I learned how Su finishes her rayon chenille.

I totally understand the importance of wet finishing, thanks in large part to Laura Fry. I do wash all my scarves after they come off the loom – generally by hand to save water – and after they’re dry, or almost dry, I give them a hard press. But you can’t do THAT with rayon chenille! A hard press would destroy that luxurious depth of the chenille. So I figured I simply had to let the heat part go.

Not so, said Su! Heat is a must! “Toss those scarves in the washer and the dryer,” she insisted. “But” I protested, “the dryer usually destroys my double-twisted fringes I took so long to make.” Su explained that she never fringes her rayon chenille any more. If I recall correctly, that’s partly in response to changes in what industry has used for core fibers over the years, and partly (I think) a personal preference of Su’s.

Ok, I thought, I’ll give it a shot. So I’ve recently woven a dozen rayon chenille scarves in 4 different warps. I fringed one of them and hand hemmed the others. I tossed them in the washer and dryer as directed.

And they’re all LOVELY! The photo is of Tammy‘s lovely hand painted colorways – Ocean Waves.

Plus, as an added bonus, hand hemming takes me less time than double-twisting. I’ll be interested to get customer’s reactions in October. I’m thinking that the hemmed scarves, particularly in the darker colors, will be more appealing to men. We’ll see.